Charge 5 not tracking the floors

[Wink_0077]

I just got a Charge 5 as I am changing from a Fitbit Ionic.  I updated the firmware and have started using the device.   I do like the simple look of the Charge 5 and I was thinking it had all the features that I use in the Ionic.  However, the Charge 5 is not tracking the floors.  It does not show up as a category in the app and I see no mention of it on the display of the Charge 5.   Was this feature removed in the Charge 5?

[JohnnyRow · Accepted solution]

The Charge 5 does not track floors climbed.  It does not include the hardware altimeter required for that, so it could not be added even via firmware update.

[Wink_0077]

Thanks for the reply.  That is a deal breaker for me as I have really loved the stair tracking feature in the Ionic.  Didn't previous Charge models have the floor tracking?

[J4k3_Ry4n]

Purchase a Charge 4 instead. You'll love it.

[Wink_0077]

Looks like the Charge 4 is no longer available.  The more I use the Charge 5 the more I absolutely love it!  It has most everything I want in a tracker except the floor tracking and I like the small size of it and the sharp display. The only thing I would add would be the floor tracking otherwise this is awesome!

[Scott12]

Wow

[John_himm]

Floor tracking is no big deal

[AZWolverine]

That's unfortunate. I do a lot of hill training and really enjoyed tracking the floors.

[jessbowling]

Yes - the Charge 4 tracks stairs - I bought the Charge 5 not knowing this feature was discontinued - luckily I still have my Charge 4 which is better all the way around, so I will stay with the 4 and return the Charge 5 - how disappointing - and it doesn't even have an altimeter so unless they can dither with the built-in GPS a firmware update will not be adding the stairs feature - but for me it is a deal-breaker

[HikingAnimal]

Perhaps not to you but many of us a mountain climbers and hill trainers.

[Prabhuram]

Yes. Same here. My Charge 2 has given up. Though this uses a connected GPS(via phone), I could track the elevation changes during my run which usually contains some steep hill climbs.

I was so close to buying a Charge 5 but the lack of altimeter is a serious deal breaker. Will need to look elsewhere

[Prabhuram]

If you are in the UK, Argos still does sell Charge 4 and I have bought one

[FitBoomer59]

Says the guy that doesn’t climb mountains

[arvindtirkey]

I had Charge 4 and bought the Chrge 5 without even checking as devices should progress forward rather than reducing hardware features. It is a shame that Fitbit reduced hardware and make some software feature increase and selling it as an upgrade.

It’s a very clever business tactic to fool customers by selling new devices saying they have more features, but saving a lot of production cost with hardware reduction.

Shame on Fitbit and Google. 
Charging customers more money but providing less meaningful features on fitbit trackers.

I left my Charge 4 to buy new Charge 5. Fitbit never highlighted that they are taking Floor count away. This is shameless business tactic. 
New versions are supposed to be more advanced. What fitbit did was take out hardware feature saving so much money, and added flashy software features that cost nothing, yet charging equal price for Charge 5.

Clever or Shameless? 
I say both.

Another fact, Fitbit bought Pebbles and faced it out. It’s gone. Google bought Fitbit and will do the same with it making a competitor disappear in the near future.

How Fitbit swayed you. Did you see?

they simply added a few colorful options and software features that cost nothing, but took away Floor counting that was hardware feature costing them a lot. But naive consumers get swayed by flashy software features and says nothing, and companies like Fitbit (now google) will keep fooling customers bagging more money by selling new devices with less (hardware) features.

Shows your basic usage of activity tracking. Your views and perspectives doesn’t even count.

Google taking off a major hardware saving millions of dollars and adding colors and a few software features that cost nothing and still selling new version Charge5 at the same peice as Charge 4. 
Clever and shameless? Eh?

Problem withe me is that I bought Charge 5 not knowing they took off the altimeter hardware from it. It wasn’t highlighted. I gave my Charge 4 to my daughter. Now Charge 4 is not being sold and there’s no equivalent tracker as Charge4 available in the market.

How easily Fitbit fooled everyone by not even mentioning that Charge 5 doesn’t have altimeter hardware. They simply added a few software upgrades that cost nothing and kept selling Charge5 at the same price. 
in the future, for Charge 6, they will bring back altimeter as a major upgrade and will increase price too. All customers will be double happy not knowing how fitbit fooled them since Charge 5. 

Moderator Edit: Merged replies 

[Prabhuram]

Hope the floor counting is back on subsequent Charge versions. I believe the elevation changes(not floor levels) will still be tracked in your run/walks with gps tracking

[arvindtirkey]

@Prabhuram 

"Floor counting will be back on subsequent Charge version," you said. Sure! Of course! Fitbit has taken away that major hardware feature, and then will return it, making it a big news, big feature, making the new Tracker more expensive than before.

Another point, you hope that the floor counting will be back on subsequent Charge versions, so you mean you will buy the next Charge version, shelling out more than 150$ when you already would be using your current Charge 5 that had no issues or problems? Do you see the futuristic scheme of Fitbit to force/lure customers to buy the new tracker just for getting back "Floor counter"?  

Who will be benefited with it? Fitbit.

You believe that the elevation changes (not floor levels) will still be tracked in our run/walks with gps tracking. True. Google map has contours calculation so through (software) google map, elevation would be counted. BUT BUT, who talked about elevation Prabhuram?

Who was talking about the elevation in runs?  We were talking about "FLOOR COUNTING."

[Prabhuram]

I share your pain. I was lucky enough not to be swayed by the 5 star reviews on the Charge 5 model. This will most likely be my last fitbit purchase. 

I talked about elevation as I assumed the lack of altimeter would also stop calculating elevation changes.

[Vicki-Eh]

Just reading this after receiving my new Charge 5 yesterday. So annoying that is won't track floors. Had I known this I definitely wouldn't have gotten the 5. Probably would have gone to a different brand. Pretty disappointed in FitBit that they didn't call out this one serious (IMO) change. 🤬

[arvindtirkey]

@Vicki-Eh  The problem is that we don’t even have any other option in the market that we can buy. Fitbit was the best in the market, but they have started acting like Apple with their “monopolistic” attitude and existence. Fitbit ate away “Pebbles” that could have set them right. But now, Fitbit is taking away all hardwares in the trackers and saving millions of dollars and introducing software linked features that cost them nothing and are only show offs. Did they highlight in Charge5 feature webpage that they are taking away Floor counting? No. That’s so much the same like Apple policy.

Now Google is the new owner, but I wonder how long Google will keep Fitbit? They have to sell their own smartwatches.

Fitbit killed “Pebbles,” and probably now in the future Google will kill “Fitbit.”

Conspiracy theory: Google will slowly reduce features from Fitbit and will make it unpopular among customers. With the declining sales, they will stop producing it saying it’s not profitable anymore.

Let’s remember this now and see how it goes in the future.

Our plea will fall in deaf ears. Also, these moderators will do the lip-service justifying this production blasphemy.